Page 30 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

“Something is definitely up,” Maurice agreed.

I watched as the drivers led us through town again, past the Mongolian barbecue place and further still until we reached the beach again. Memories of the groomsman holding Kim and flirting with her flooded through me. I gripped the door and gritted my teeth.

I needed to keep myself under control if they planned to sit her next to him again. I wasn’t sure I could keep calm in front of everyone at that point. The thought of punching him in the face passed through my thoughts.

“We’re here!” the driver called back to us, pulling me from my frustrations.

I stared out my window at the building. There wasn’t much to it, but I recognized the name.Trinity’s. A steak house I had taken Mandi to a few times to celebrate the bigger milestones in her life, like her 21st birthday. I had also hosted a few dinner meetings there, at the location back home.

“You sure your boy can afford this place?” I raised a brow.

I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I knew better than to assume they could afford to pay for everyone’s meals and I doubted half of them had ever entered Trinity’s before. The menus didn’t list the prices either. You either had to have gone before to understand, or be comfortable enough financially, that the prices wouldn’t faze you.

“No idea,” Maurice shrugged as he stepped out of the car and stared at the building. “I know I’ve never bothered coming. But it’ll be nice to have a good steak while we’re out here.”

Everyone filed out of the cars and gathered in front of the restaurant. Mandi beamed over at me and smiled.

“Dad! Can you believe we’re coming here? I suggested it to Amanda before she built the itinerary since I knew we loved it here. I figured they would too.”

“Tell me you told them the prices,” I groaned. Mandi had the right idea to recommend the place, but she needed to make sure she was aware of people’s finances too.

Mandi crossed her arms and gave a half pout, “No, I didn’t tell them because it’s not their business to know.” She pulled out her black credit card. “I’m covering the bill tonight as another part of my wedding gift. I’m just glad the transportation company decided to upgrade us until the end of the vacation. I was about to ask them to do it for me, but looks like they knew we needed better quality.”

I let out a half chuckle, “I’m sure they were well aware of the emotional damage they were causing.” I gave Mandi a small peck on her forehead, “You did good kiddo.”

She smiled again. I hadn’t seen her this happy in a while, “Thanks, dad. I also pulled some strings so you can sit next to Kim’s dad. I know you mentioned the two of you were old friends.”

I blanched at hearing Kim’s name, “Yeah. Of course. Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “Let’s get inside with everyone so they’re not lost.”

As Mandi had claimed, we were sharing a table with Kim and Maurice, close to the bride and groom. We were each given our own separate tables to share collectively so we could talk in a calmer voice. There was a longer table that could fit everyone, but I was all the more thankful for not being around so many others.

I was sitting between Mandi and Maurice with Kim sitting across from me at the round booth. Realizing I was sharing a table with them at first was exciting, but now I couldn’t stop imagining trying to get away.

“So, you’ve been here a few times you said, Jared?” Maurice asked.

“Yeah. It’s a nice place. Really great food. I don’t recommend getting too much though. It’s super filling.”

“Makes sense,” he turned to Kim. “When you finally figure out who you want to be with, I expect him to at least treat you here for celebrations.”

“Dad—” she glanced over at me and gave me a sheepish smile.

“Nope, I don’t want to hear you complain. A good guy should treat his girl to a nice meal like this at least once.”

I smiled and rested my elbows on the table so I could put my chin on my hands, “Yes, I would agree. Spoiling the person you like is a perfect thing to expect from someone even more so when they can do it often.

Maurice turned to me and furrowed his brow, “I doubt this could be a common spoiling. Even that’s a little—“

Before he could finish his sentence, the waitress walked over, “Thank you all for the wait. Would you all like something to drink?” She pointed at the wine menu in Kim’s hands.

“I’m not too picky. What about you Kim?”

She clicked her tongue and pointed at something on the menu, “Could I get a glass of this and a water?”

The waitress nodded and wrote something on her pad before turning to the others.

“Make her drink a bottle for the table,” I smirked at Kim and turned to Mandi. “I’ll cover our bill here.”

The waitress didn’t argue with the request and left to gather everyone’s drinks.

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